


love today for tomorrow we die

by yerm



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Space, M/M, Non-Chronological, Translation, cosmos galaxy spaceships and other cool things, donghyuck is a genius, mark is doing his best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-27 03:31:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18189224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yerm/pseuds/yerm
Summary: donghyuck’s pupils are, when he looks at the captain at moments like this, almost in all iris - two black holes, and mark seriously reflects on how to tell that once again, in this abyss, he sees his own reflection.and he isn’t scared.





	love today for tomorrow we die

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [love today for tomorrow we die](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/466355) by ильен. 



> [aesthetic to the fic](https://vk.com/wall-165315893_695)
> 
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> author's [twt](https://twitter.com/_nanithefuckk)

"Three, two, one... Start!"

In the frame of a small, almost antediluvian camera, a tired face of a man appears. He smiles helplessly, rolling his eyes slightly, and wrinkles his nose funnily. And it's so dissonant with the gray hair making its way at his temples that the operator cannot restrain himself: he snorts loudly but coughs seriously right away.

"Now, introduce yourself, please."

"Oh my god, Donghyuck," the man rolls his eyes very obviously now but continues to smile softly. "Are you serious?"

"I've never been more serious, come on."

The man in the frame wrinkles his nose again, brushing the hair from his forehead with his palm awkwardly, and yet he takes his emotions under control, looking at the camera earnestly.

"Mark Lee, forty-three years old," he sighs deeply, frowning a little. "Highest rank pilot of the United Space Program of the Earth, Captain of the ship NEO-CT0127.”

 

 

In the training building, everything is on fire since the very morning: today groups are being formed for the final stage of preparation, and each of them will be assigned a future captain. Donghyuck is as excited as possible: he wasn't able to fall asleep at night, and now he is shaking a little with nervousness and simple fatigue. He looks at the dark-haired skinny boy with sharp cheekbones and pale, bitten lips, who listens carefully to instructions from the first lieutenant of the third training corps, Lee Taeyong, and thinks beforehand that it will be difficult with him. Therefore, when their future captain approaches the group, Donghyuck also bites his lower lip as not to say anything inappropriate.

"Mark Lee, seventeen years old, cadet of the Military Space Academy of Canada. I hope we will get along."

For example, no, most likely Donghyuck won't get along with him especially.

Perhaps his teenage maximalism gets over him after all. Donghyuck isn't sure; he just looks attentively at the other boy's tense serious face while others take turns in introducing themselves, and barely holds himself from making a frustrated grimace. Because yes, no one promised him an entertaining excursion into space, but under the leadership of this, obviously, absurdly dutiful, stubborn boy, everything will turn into an irrevocable nightmare. So, when the turn comes to Donghyuck, he takes a step forward and says monotonously, "Lee Donghyuck, sixteen years old, responsible for scientific activities and technical equipment."

And then retreats back.

Actually, he's not just responsible. He is, for the record, a genius here – and this is not some nice exaggeration, it's just a fact. Not the most outstanding though, because geniuses here are gathered one for each of the future groups, but still.

He reads this Mark Lee in the slightest manifestations of mimicry or intonation of voice and finally notices how the young captain swallows nervously after Donghyuck introduced himself: his sharp adam's apple makes a desperate move over the tightly tied navy blue tie. Donghyuck is aware that it may be a reaction to any of the irritants, there are many of them for the skinny boy nonetheless but still allows himself to assume that Mark Lee had not dealt with geniuses before and was afraid to start.

And Donghyuck can't hold back a short smirk.

 

 

"So, Captain, let's avoid frequently asked questions," the man in the frame grins noticeably. "Tell us, was it hard to join the program? Didn't you want to leave at some point?"

 

 

Mark is eighteen - very young by any standards, but he tries his best because his father counts on him. He has been trying since childhood, studying, training and not giving himself any indulgence to get into the humanity rescue program. It sounds too pompous, but the biggest irony is that all this bombast is justified. People have no chance for a mistake now.

Mark doesn't either.

But Lee Donghyuck has been under his leadership for a year now, and apart from a mistake, he simply cannot call him any other word.

Because Lee Donghyuck is a system failure, a catastrophe. A little naughty boy, whom nature, for some reason, endowed with too high intelligence. He doesn't care about rules and the seriousness of situation, and sometimes Mark doesn't understand at all how he's even got accepted to such an important mission.

He does not understand until one of the training days when the whole crew is failing terribly, Donghyuck pulls out their presumptive ship from the inevitable crash.

Mark has to admit it, Donghyuck is useful.

Although his entire utility is broken by a simple phenomenal reluctance to obey direct orders. Mark says, "Donghyuck, you are in charge of the life support stabilization."

And the other only grins wryly in response and takes into the navigation and development of the route. And so over and over again.

The fact that at some point Mark snaps doesn't surprise anyone: right in the middle of the exercise he grabs the arrogant boy by his forearm and leads him out of the training pavilion almost forcefully. It does not surprise even Donghyuck himself, who paces - frighteningly obediently - after the obviously angry captain and does not say a word against it. Mark stops at the dead-end of one of the many corridors, and looks viciously from under his frowning eyebrows, "Are you fucking kidding me?"

Donghyuck is looking too - pointedly around. He does not put his hands on his chest in a protective gesture on purpose, choosing to beat off a calm rhythm with the fingers of his right hand over his hip instead, and smiles a little. Smugly.

"Something's wrong, cap?"

Mark wants to howl. Quite literally howl out loud, because he feels his full impotence in front of Donghyuck.

"Do you understand that you must obey my orders, otherwise we'll fail our entire mission?"

Donghyuck finally looks up straight into Mark's eyes.

"I understand," he says softly, with sobriety. "I understand it entirely, but it's not my fault that too often your orders do not meet the demands of maximum productivity."

He has dark bags under his eyes because of the constant lack of sleep, split ends on dyed disheveled bangs and, it seems, an abyss instead of pupils. And, looking into them, Mark thinks for the first time that even his most desperate efforts may not be enough.

He combs his hair with his hand wearily and looks back with a dull, absolutely calm look.

"You can tell me about it before doing something, you know?"

Mark does not expect at all that Donghyuck would be completely taken aback by his question, immediately becoming almost two times smaller in size - it feels like it, for sure - and exhale tiredly, "And what then, you will listen?"

Mark does not expect it.

That's why he exhales noisily and wrinkles his nose as usual: his eyes tingle treacherously at the accumulated tension. Donghyuck in front of him - a genius or whatever - stands with heavy tense shoulders and breathes exhaustedly. He's a child, just like Mark.

"To you, I will," Mark says, and only after a second does he fully realize how serious he is. "We're in one team, you remember, Donghyuck?”

 

 

"No, never in my life have I wanted anything to be different," the man smiles disarmingly, and the camera is twitching obviously, losing its focus due to the operator's negligence.

"Okay, acceptable," the interviewer's voice is shaking a little. "Then tell us, Captain, your happiest memory from Earth."

 

 

Fall is sunny this year. It's beautiful with all these shades of gold and red. Once again in the last two weeks, Mark escapes from the complex's territory right before the dawn and goes all the way to the lake, which is twenty minutes walk from the camp; fallen leaves rustle under his feet. The fog falls on the ground like a soft veil, and Mark is not sure, but it seems like exactly this fall exactly at this hour is one of the most majestic and beautiful things he had ever seen in his life.

He comes to the very edge of the water surface and inhales deeply the raw air with a full chest, squeezing his eyes shut.

Mark is afraid of even imagining that less than a year they will leave this planet and never see it ever again. He's so infinitely in love with Earth.

But for the first time of all his unauthorized strolls, he hears a crunch of the branches nearby.

Mark has to crawl through the thick bush to see Donghyuck sitting right on the ground in gray sweatpants and the same t-shirt as his, knees drawn up to his chest defencelessly, and looking at the smooth surface of the lake.

He almost feels guilty for interrupting the other's solitude, but still exhales a soft, "Donghyuck?"

And receives a scared look right back, "Cap?"

Mark shakes his shoulder awkwardly and looks curiously as if asking to sit next to him. The ground is already completely cold and the chilly goosebumps on Donghyuck's forearms are obvious. They bother Mark, so he doesn't think too much before taking off his sweatshirt. Puts it simply on the other boy's skinny shoulders and only after that the realization of what he just did hits him.

But Donghyuck seems to pay no mind. He pushes his hands in the sleeves and stands still for a couple of seconds as he buries his nose in the collar, and then there's a soft smile tugging at the corners of his lips.

"It isn't productive again, cap," he huffs with usual mocking, "now you're gonna get cold."

Mark is in a plain black sleeveless shirt. But there are years of military training under his belt that let him just brush off the other's worry.

"I won't get cold."

He says it with confidence, but Donghyuck tilts his head to the left as always when he's interested in something and looks intently. So intently that Mark practically feels his ears burning.

"I really won't get cold, Donghyuck."

The boy snorts in amusement. Smiles as if Mark in front of him is an absolutely silly kid who can't understand another basic thing.

Perhaps it's true.

Because Mark actually can't understand why Donghyuck stands up with a theatrical sigh and stares down just like he does when he calculates probabilities in the middle of an exercise at the polygon. This look gives Mark goosebumps running down his spine.

He tries to shake them off unconsciously; moves his bare shoulders, and only after that he notices that now Donghyuck is smiling eagerly.

He's made some decision, Mark knows that look.

What he doesn't know is that why Donghyuck's decision turned out to be Donghyuck sitting behind his back, legs spread on both sides. He pulls Mark over as he tugs the sides of his sweatshirt onto the other boy's shoulders, and nuzzles the back of his neck with his cold snuffling nose.

"And this is productive," he murmurs barely audible, pressing his lips to Mark's skin.

Donghyuck hugs his captain, clasping his hands on Mark's stomach, practically trapping him in: in such a pose Mark couldn't turn without breaking the younger's embrace. And Mark doesn't want to break it at all.

So he relaxes obediently, leans back a little, and closes his eyes.

On the other side of the shore, a huge flock of birds fusses around, preparing to fly somewhere to the south, and Mark counts down seconds by Donghyuck's hot breaths, who still hasn't looked up.

He's still a system failure and a catastrophe, but now only in Mark Lee's personal system.

"I have no idea how and what is happening in the geniuses' head," Mark says, eyes closed, "so just tell me what does it all mean. Simple and direct."

"What is it, captain concedes his defeat?" Donghyuck snorts again but hugs Mark more tightly as if he's afraid Mark will pull away.

"It's a total defeat if it's you."

But Mark won't. He shifts gently so that he could lower Donghyuck's palms below and cover them with his own, and throws his head back on the other boy's shoulder. Donghyuck says nothing. He breathes heavily and frequently, and then his lips, consciously, touch Mark's neck, then his sharp jawline, on his cheek. Mark turns his head - on his lips.

A flock of birds soars with screams into the sky, and when it quiets down, Mark finally opens his eyes to see the usual mischievous yet so helplessly tender look on Donghyuck's face.

"Do I still have to tell you how and what's happening in my head?”

 

 

The operator coughs a few times. The man in the frame smiles calmly and doesn't say anything - he looks only somewhere over the lens.

"Captain, look in the camera!" The operator exclaims dramatically but becomes serious again. "What was the most difficult for you when you were leaving the Earth?"

 

 

After a goodbye weekend with his family, twenty-year-old captain Mark Lee returns to the complex frankly tear-streaked, but no one would even dare to blame him. Therefore no words were said about his appearance right until Mark walks in his and Donghyuck's room.

"Cap, were you crying for two days straight?"

Donghyuck is sitting on his roommate's desktop half-naked and swinging his legs absentmindedly. His hair is dyed natural dark, and there's _love today for tomorrow we die_ written in cursive on his acute collarbone - and, honestly, it looks so good that Mark's breath hitches. Donghyuck notices that; he smiles slyly and jumps off the desk, stretching slowly.

"Not all," Mark answers after a short pause. "You got yourself a tattoo."

He turns to place his backpack on the bed; it's huge and heavy because this time Mark took all the memorable things out of home.

"You're amazingly observant," Donghyuck exhales in the back of Mark's neck, coming closer from behind almost silently. "I thought I won't have the chance to do it anymore. Do you like it?"

Mark oh so likes it. He spins around, placing his hands on Donghyuck's hips right away. Looks closely - there's a noticeable redness around the letters - and thinks whether Donghyuck should leave the tattoo open so soon.

"You wanted to brag so bad that you took off the bandage- or what's supposed to be there?"

"Is it all that you care about?" Donghyuck frowns funnily, showing the highest level of offense, and pouts. Mark kisses the pout away, catching younger's lower lip and biting it lightly.

"I care about you," he rubs his nose with Donghyuck's lovingly, "and once it's fully healed I'm gonna kiss each letter."

"It will be later, on the ship," Donghyuck mumbles quietly and pulls away a little to look into Mark's eyes. His fingertips trace over swollen reddened eyelids, and he smiles cautiously, "turns out my captain is a cry baby."

He says it like a question, and Mark'd studied Donghyuck well enough to know the real meaning behind his constant mocking. That's why he melts under the touch, pushes his head further into Donghyuck's hand like a cat, closing his eyes tiredly.

"It's just, I realized that I won't see any of them ever again. How are you dealing with it?" Mark doesn't add _that easily_ , but it's hanging in the air significantly.

Donghyuck only snorts illegibly and then purses his lips painfully. The wings of his nose quiver and his breath is so visibly unstable that Mark embraces him tighter, burrowing the fingers of his right hand into the dark, slightly curly hair.

"Got it," he murmurs. "You're not dealing with it, I got it."

Donghyuck hums softly.

"When we come out of the cybersyn for the first time, our parents will already grow old; for the second one - none of those who we know will be left alive on Earth. And, if the calculations are correct, by the time of our third awakening, the Earth which we know as a planet will no longer be such," he mutters it all monotonously like the lines from a memorized paragraph, but clings closer and tugs at the hem of the elder’s shirt. "So yes, I don't deal with it. I don't think that anyone here deals with it either.”

 

 

"Wait, Donghyuck," the man rubs the bridge of his nose with the pads of his thumb and forefinger and looks over the camera lens again. "Can you at least tell me what it is all for?"

The image goes blurry immediately, the camera remains lying on the table, shooting as another man approaches the man sitting on the bed. He grins smugly and kisses the captain on the tip of his nose briefly.

"There's a probability, my dear cap, that we are the last representatives of humanity," the man fixes the other's hair, taking a great look at him meticulously and seeming to be satisfied with the result. "I think we have to outstand somehow."

He says it with a smile, but at the last sentence, his voice trembles a little anyway.

 

 

When Donghyuck wakes up for the second time, he understands that something's wrong right away. Firstly, because the instruments show that the awakening has happened before the due course. Secondly, because Mark is sitting next to his capsule, his eyes red and puffy.

Donghyuck can't choose at least one really plausible reason of a set of possible and most probable reasons, so all he does is raise a heavy hand to touch Mark. After the awakening even such a simple move is difficult, but it is enough to catch the other's attention.

"Donghyuck?" Mark jumps promptly on his feet, starting to fuss around. "You okay?"

From the very beginning, the ship’s security system was programmed to start the awakening process of the Captain's capsule automatically in case of any possible threats or unforeseen situations. And it explains why Mark had woken Donghyuck up but doesn't explain his odd concern at all.

"Am I not supposed to?" Donghyuck asks cautiously anyway, and with this question, something cold and nasty grows in his chest and he assumes that he won't like the answer at all.

Because Mark sits back down in an instant as if all the strength suddenly left him and hides his fingers in his messy hair.

"Mark?"

Donghyuck is getting scared for real now. He tries to stand up, a little bit at least, but Mark looks up, shaking his head loosely - there's no need to.

"I-I don't k-know how it was possible to miscount," he starts haltingly. "But it seems like we got into some kind of strong magnetic field because all the systems shut down at once. You can probably fix it, but–"

Captain pauses again, dropping his head and staring blankly at the floor.

"But other capsules," the first salty drop falls down at the tip of his nose. "Everyone is dead, Donghyuck. Only we're left."

Yes, such an option Donghyuck's managed to figure out for these few minutes too, but, for some reason, he wasn't prepared at all. He raises his hand again, catching Mark's attention and says weakly, "Get me out of here."

Because waiting for his organism to stabilize, and seeing a completely broken Captain in front of him at the same time is too much for Donghyuck. It's too much for Mark too, by the way: he stands up quickly, picking up the younger in his arms carefully, and presses to himself as he advises him to close his eyes.

And however much natural stubbornness there is in Donghyuck, this time he listens to Mark without questions, although he still has the time to see other capsules before hiding his nose in the base of Mark's neck. "They woke up and suffocated in there," he says just so it was said out loud. So it could be heard from the other view.

Mark only pulls him closer in response and walks to the exit quickly. He doesn't say anything, but Donghyuck guesses that right now captain blames himself not only for what had happened but also for what if.

"If you died too, I'd..." there are fingers pressed to his lips that don't let him finish. Donghyuck shakes his head, mouths tiredly, "Shut up, okay?"

Mark keeps silent obediently, kissing Donghyuk's fingers.

 

 

"Okay, let's assume," the man smirks, but relaxes nevertheless, leaning back against the wall. "But why am I the only one answering the questions then?"

"Oh, honey, it's very simple," operator snorts behind the frame. "Because you're a captain."

 

 

"You know, the fact that you're a captain doesn't mean you have to do everything on your own," Donghyuck goes quiet for a moment as he looks into Mark's darkened eyes. "Okay, maybe before it did mean. But not now."

"I don't do everything on my own, Donghyuck, I just do what we're here for."

"Even if it doesn't make any sense anymore?"

Mark stops short by a prepared phrase, and takes two deep breaths before clarifying calmly, "And what makes, huh?"

Donghyuck stops short too.

The message about the death of the Earth was received two years ago. Earlier Donghyuck's managed to catch the crash signals from several other NEO-CT ships, and two months ago he'd caught a strange signal from Renjun's ship, after which it was no longer possible to restore the connection with him.

So, in fact, they are really the ones left, perhaps the last two people in the entire universe.

The last three years Donghyuck has been trying to clarify the route to the planet which his and Mark's ship was sent to, and after several checks he had found out that there's a still young black hole right on their way which couldn't be identified from the Earth and, naturally, didn't take its part in any calculations. Their ship simply won't have enough energy resources to pass it without getting in the gravitational field and at the same time saving the original route.

And therefore Donghyuck doesn't know the answer to Mark's question and he certainly doesn't know what exactly can be the right decision. It isn't written in the books, you know.

But he looks at the helplessly slouched captain, his captain, and thinks that, perhaps, the usual human assertions have long been depreciated for two of them.

"There's a sense in you," he says, coming closer and grabbing the other's hand. "In me."

"In us?" Mark sighs heavily. "Don't you think it's a bit - only a little bit - selfish?"

He frowns angrily, as if he's all eighty and not twenty-seven, but doesn't pull back his hand. So Donghyuck gets braver and presses their bodies flush, sighing right into Mark's lips, "Tell me, who's gonna judge us?"

Mark still can't believe that the whole humanity trusted Donghyuck, and he so simply offers to drop it all but, actually, he doesn't feel guilty at all when he's slipping his palms into the back pockets of Donghyuck's uniform pants and kisses back.

"So you suggest to leave the ship," he clarifies when there's no air left in his lungs and he has to pull back, "and jump in the black hole?"

"You, of course, horribly deformed everything, but yes, I suggest it," Donghyuck gives Mark a crooked smile and walks back to take a tablet with calculations from the table. Mark honestly has no idea what they are for if he doesn't understand anything of it but stares obediently anyway while Donghyuck's explaining.

"See, after sixteen years we will come to the point of no return, after which there will be no chance to escape anymore. We don't have enough energy to pass this hole, so all that we have to do is change the route and get stuck somewhere in another universe with the largest piece of genetic garbage that humanity has managed to throw super far even after death. It's not productive, get it?"

He switches the parameters deftly, drawing another graphic in.

"Now look here. There's a large gas planet right in front of the point of no return, and behind it - a wormhole, I think. I've calculated a lot of shit, Mark, and seriously, if it's not it, then I don't even know what to assume anymore."

There's a dangerous glint in Donghyuck's eyes, so Mark decides not to say anything - just touches gently the other's palm that holds the tablet, and nods quietly.

"We can overclock our ship in the orbit of this planet to scan enough speed and jump into the wormhole."

"Wait, Donghyuck," captain frowns, confused. "How does it increase the chances of the success of our mission?"

"Hardly increases," Donghyuck turns droopy immediately, scratching his nose wistfully. "Too many unknown even for me, but with the information that I've received from Jaemin four years ago, I can assume that this wormhole will get us right to them. Parameters and radiation are identical. I don't know, the probability is about seventeen percent."

"We don't know if they're still alive."

"Well, we know nothing at this point, don't we?" Donghyuck turns off the tablet, placing it back on the table, and smiles roughly. "But Renjun is that capable piece of shit, and Jaemin beat me off in the equations a few times. Besides, there was a whole group alive, including biochemist Jeno and genetic specialist Joohyun. They simply have more chances than we do. But yes, I admit that it will be the most stupid venture in human history."

Mark grins too.

"But you don't want to see if it pays off or no."

"Absolutely no," Donghyuck wrinkles his nose funnily, clearly stealing this habit from the older, and adds, "there's a black hole before us, Mark. Nobody had found out what's there - we just cannot help but try."

"We might need to be here, on the ship."

"And might die with it, because chances of it during the passage into the wormhole are more than chances of the success."

"We just throw it in there and fly straight into the gravitational ass?"

"Yes, we'll do it," Donghyuck nods proudly, and looks too uncertainly into Mark's eyes. "I will do it. What you'll do, you decide for yourself."

"Nonsense. We're in one team, you remember?”

 

 

"So, tell us, captain, about your happiest day on the ship."

"Every day with you, Donghyuck," the captain grins.

"No, captain, be more serious," there's a smile in the operator's voice too. "Choose one, the most favorite one."

The camera zooms in, stopping on frowning eyebrows, then moving to the lips, losing focus for a moment.

"Is there a possibility that Renjun will see this?"

"Yeah, and all the descendants of humanity, if such happens."

"Then I have such a day. The most favorite one."

 

 

Protective shutters are open for the second day in a row because the ship passes near a huge cosmic nebula - and this is, probably, the most beautiful thing Mark has seen during the whole time of their journey.

So he brought blankets and pillows from bedrooms to get settled right in front of the viewing panoramic portholes and made Donghyuck stop all of his endless calculations. Not that he resisted at least a tadbit actually.

Donghyuck is pretty. He's laying on the floor, covered in kisses and, frankly speaking, full of love - exactly how he's always supposed to be, in Mark's opinion. There are colorful hickeys scattered mindlessly on his tanned skin like watercolor flowers, and it could be called an art.

"You're staring, it's just awful," Donghyuck stops pretending that he's fascinated by the nebula and flops down on his back, looking into captain's eyes who's laying nearby.

"You like it," Mark doesn't even question it. He realizes that his gaze drops to Donghyuck's lips again, but doesn't even try to do something about it.

"That's you, of course, guessed right."

Donghyuck is the first one to lean in: licks briefly into Mark's mouth, slipping his tongue inside, setting the pace of the kiss immediately. Uneven and messy.

Mark doesn't mind - he lets him lead, only pulls on himself persistently, forcing Donghyuck to practically lay on top of him.

"You're beautiful," he says between the kisses. "So beautiful, I don't know how I could be so lucky."

"Statistically," Donghyuck starts with fake seriousness, but Mark silences him promptly with another kiss and that makes them both giggle. "Okay, you're lucky."

Mark nods satisfactorily as he licks his lips craftily and bites the tattooed collarbone tangibly. Soothes the redness quickly, leaving some sloppy spots for tomorrow.

"I'd change live to love."

"Is there a difference?" Donghyuck smirks too before leaning forward and leaving another huge hickey on Mark's neck, balancing the score.

"With you, no," Mark titles his head back obediently, eyelids heavy. "No difference."

There are no less bright stars seem to explode one by one under his lashes, and it's amazing - after so many years he still feels Donghyuck like _that._

"What's more beautiful, me or that nebula?" the younger whispers right into Mark's ear, launching another string of goosebumps on his skin, catches his earlobe between his teeth gently, waiting for the answer.

"You," captain gives up without any resistance because he really thinks so. But Donghyuck, for some reason, beams at him triumphantly, poking Mark with his nose and saying smugly, "I don't believe it."

He rests his palms on the sides from Mark and lifts up, looking him whole up and down with such a look and exactly _this_ is truly awful.

"What, you concede defeat before the nebula?" Captain says it huskily because, to be honest, his voice isn't obeying him right now.

"No. Because the most beautiful thing here," Donghyuck frowns a little, biting his lower lip momentarily, just like he does when he's about to say something very serious, "is you."

And usually Mark would laugh at such a statement, but now he only lifts his head for a kiss again, because his love for Donghyuck - there's lots of it. It feels physically, like a huge balloon under his ribs, like several overloads in a row, after which Mark can't breathe evenly. It feels stronger than all the fears that Mark has experienced in his life - and there were just infinitely many of them. Love for Donghyuck, it seems, is the only constant in Mark's life, and this constant justifies the existence of all variables.

Donghyuck himself stares at him with a giddy wild look. His pupils are, when he looks at the captain at moments like this, almost in all iris - two black holes, and Mark seriously reflects on how to tell that once again, in this abyss, he sees his own reflection.

And he isn't scared.

He flips them over as he sits down on Donghyuck's thighs, and watches. Just watches, forgetting about the existence of time because he's allowed to. And because Donghyuck looks at him in the same way.

"You know, I was thinking," he says finally, deciding that there hardly could be a better moment.

"You were thinking," Donghyuck snorts rather weakly because he himself fidgets impatiently under Mark and licks his lips mindlessly now and then.

"Yes, I was thinking, and as a captain, I have the right to betrothal us." Donghyuck blinks, puzzled, calming down right away. Looks with a question, opens and closes his mouth a couple of times before saying, "you do understand this is absurd."

"Yes, it's absurd," Mark understands everything surely, and especially that marriage is a senseless convention now, created by a race that no longer exists. But. "Do you not want to?"

Donghyuck blinks slowly again, shifts and sits up so that Mark happens to be in his lap. He moves his palms over the other's chest, stopping both above his heart, and looks back absolutely openly.

"I want to," he nods three times as if confirming his words. "I'd love to."

 

 

"Shame on you, captain, the kids could hear us," operator laughs merrily and lowers the camera to his hand, where a string of metal on the ring finger could be seen. "I don't think you should know what we made them of, but yes, we made them."

Suddenly, there's a piercing sound on the ship, and the man jumps off the bed abruptly.

"Call it a day, Donghyuck, in a couple of hours we will reach the needed speed to send the ship into the wormhole."

The captain leaves the room, and Donghyuck sets the camera on a tripod and sits across from it with a calm smile on his face.

"I don't know," he coughs. "I don't know what's the point of this video if we're being wholly honest. I know, it seems, practically nothing at all. From the very beginning to the end the idea was absurd. The last raw attempt of humanity to save themselves from the grave, which they'd dug themselves. But I don't feel any responsibility for it."

The man sighs tiredly, leaning back against the wall as he fixes his eyes somewhere over the lens.

"Although, of course, I'm flattered that I'm here filming the most meaningful film strip in the history of humanity," his lips spread in a sly smile; he straightens up, staring at the camera with a fully serious look. "If the ship actually survives, I encoded everything so that first of all you'll see exactly this video. Because of all these years that I have spent with Mark and the thought that we're possibly the last two people in all the universes at once, I've figured out only one thing truly: everything that people had from the very start and stayed till the very end - is love. So the first thing that you should know about humanity:

despite all the horror that we have done, to the very end we

loved

more often, stronger and more importantly."

 

 

"Donghyuck, did you really draw a dick on the captain's bridge's wall with permanent marker and write, hold on," Mark squints in shock while Donghyuck's pulling on his protective suit for outdoor flights. "Suck it, Jaemin, I got into the black hole?"

"It's a post-irony, cap, you didn't understand anything after all."

**Author's Note:**

> this story is one of many favorites of mine and it was quite hard to translate but i had fun doing it nonetheless; i hope i did a good job
> 
> have a nice day! („• ֊ •„)
> 
> [i'm cool sometimes be my friend and you'll become extra cool no lies](https://twitter.com/5minus1zero)


End file.
